Sparkle 'a passion' for Houston

Whitney Houston's final movie was a "passion project" for the late singer, her co-star has said.

The US songstress had recently finished working on Sparkle when she died in February, and her co-star Omari Hardwick said the film - which took Whitney 12 years to bring to the big screen - is a fitting homage to the iconic performer.

"It's a passion project for Whitney," he said. "She put all of that energy into it. So at least we have a bit of her passion left on the field, so to speak, before life took her."

Omari said the singer showed no sign of distress on the set of the film.

He said: "There was not anything that would lead the human thought to go to, 'Mmm, I see some things looming around the corner.' No. It was all beautiful and butterflies when we were around her."

Whitney starred in and was executive producer of the remake about three sisters who form a Motown-era singing group in Detroit. She plays the girls' mother, and Omari's character falls for one of her daughters.

The star died on February 11 aged 48. Filming for Sparkle had already wrapped when the singer accidentally drowned in a bath at a Beverly Hills hotel on the eve of the Grammy Awards. Authorities said her death was complicated by cocaine use and heart disease.

Sparkle, which also stars Cee Lo Green, Mike Epps and Jordin Sparks, opens in the US in August.